came to the conclusion that, as a rule, they are planted much too thickly, and that many of the estates on dry land, interplanted with such an ex¬ hausting ciop as pineapples, which has been largely done on the island of Singapore, will prove shoit-lfved and unprofitable. I offer this suggestion with the greatest diffidence because I know too well how necessary it is to have local knowledge and experience.
Among the most interesting and beautiful things we saw in these gardens I must mention a few which were shown us by Dr. Ridley, on whose authority I give the names as follows.
Martinezia caryotœfolia, a South American palm with very spire-like trunk and leaf stalks.
Calamus scipionum, the climbing palm which produces the Malacca canes of commerce.
Calamus cœsius, which is the most valuable rattan cane for most of its numerous uses.
Bertholetia excelsa, the Brazil nut palm, a very large tree.
Brucea sumatrana, a shiub whose seeds are a very valuable cure for dysentery. A dose of twelve seeds the first day, ten the second, and nine the third, is considered enough to effect a cure in most cases.
Murraya caloxylon, a Siamese tree which produces very fine timber. Carludovica sp., the palm from whose leaves the best Panama hats are made.
Dryobalanops camphora, the Bornean camphor tree, which is gregarious in some parts of Johore and Penang. It produces a very fine building wood of which the scent is said to evaporate when exposed to the air, but a clothes chest, which I had lined with wood sent me from Borneo, retains its peculiar and very persistent odour.
Melaleuca leucodendron, the Cajuputi tree, which has a very curious white bark and produces cajuput oil.
Casuarina sumatrana, a very handsome tree, in leaf and habit so like some of the Mexican pines that many people mistake it for a conifer.
Wormia subsessilis, a very handsome yellow-flowered shrub, whose beautiful pink carpels are a great attraction.
The gardens were formed in a piece of what was formerly virgin forest, in which a great variety of native trees exist. One of these, described as Ormosia macrodisca, is unique, and, as its seeds will not grow, it is likely to become extinct. Shorea gibbosa is another very fine tree which has been found nowhere else but in the gardens.
Camoensia maxima from the Congo has beautiful flowers unlike those of any other genus.
Dendrobium spectabile from the Solomon Islands would be a great ac¬ quisition to our orchid collections, and another Dendrobe, D. crumenatum, called here the Pigeon orchid, has the peculiarity of opening its flowers regularly and simultaneously on the same day.
On the whole, I thought that the Singapore Botanic Gardens, if not so large as those of Calcutta, are, on account of their situation and climate, much more suitable for investigations on tropical economic plants. We heard with surprise that no successor had been appointed to Dr. Ridley, who had managed them for many years with conspicuous success, and had
